The Fourth of July
by legendarytobes
Summary: Clark didn't always like the Fourth but with his large family, he's learning to love it. Part of my chlarkex ot3, mpreg-based "Family Verse" that started with "Family Traditions."


**I.**

The lights made his heart pound really hard. Clark didn't like this. He was so confused. It was his first Fourth of July and his mommy and daddy had taken him to the far corner of the farm to watch the fireworks. He wasn't able to go to town yet. Sometimes he still talked funny. He didn't mean to, but he sometimes didn't know the words for everything even now. He'd been living for almost a year on the farm with mommy and daddy. He knew they found him during the big shower. That's all he remembered. He didn't remember from before that, not really. Sometimes he thought he'd had another mommy with pretty yellow hair, but it was getting harder to remember.

Like a dream when he first woke up, like thinking harder about it would make her face disappear.

But now he was screaming. It was too scary. The lights in the sky weren't fun like mommy and daddy promised they'd be. Not at all. The sky was burning and that was familiar, and he could remember something from _before_ and now there was a sky before that was red and filled with smoke. There were noises as loud as the fireworks now and back then the booms had made the walls shake.

Clark clung to his mommy so hard that it she could barely breathe even as she patted his back. "Go home now. _Lara_ , we go home."

His daddy looked down at him and frowned and mommy reached over and brushed the tears away from his cheek. "Clark, son, are you okay?"

"It's burning," he said and then he said other things.

Words he didn't quite understand anymore but that his parents had never even heard. It was so scary and they took him home them and tucked him in their big bed where they slept all night until the noises stopped and the sky stopped burning.

 **II.**

"Wow, Chlo," Clark said as he blurred to a stop at Queen Manor. "You really go all out."

His best friend rolled her eyes at him. "Don't look at me like that."

"Like what?"

She shook her head and leaned back at her desk chair. "I know it's a big party. I do, but Oliver really needed to make some overtures with some business associates and, besides, it's really the first Fourth where Jonathan understands what's going on."

"It looks like bunting threw up all over your house. Besides, how many fireworks will be going off here in a few minutes."

She blushed. "It's like an hour's worth but we opened the estate up in some places to the public. It's for the people of Star City, you know?"

"I know, but it's just there's so much going on. I guess I always forget. I'm so busy that it's hard to get out here. I see you at the Tower or, I dunno, come by the park or whatever to see Jonathan. When I come here it feels weird."

"So my home is weirder than your alien fortress?"

He shrugged and, if anyone else were being that blunt, it might have made him feel bad. Chloe'd been busting his chops for half their lives now, and she'd never been impressed with him even after she knew the whole nine yards, still, _yes,_ there was something odd about coming to this huge estate even after a few years and realizing it was Chloe and she was Lex Luthor levels of rich. It just never felt right.

"Not exactly...I dunno. It's just it's kind of like when Lana was living with Lex."

Chloe quirked her head at him, and he wasn't sure how to take her scrutiny either. "Oliver's not evil, well, not after the Omega thing and he's so sorry about your wedding."

"No worries. We'll reschedule, uh, eventually."

"Good, but why is this so weird?"

"Cause I come here and you have a staff and more people milling around than a stadium and your own fireworks show."

"It's open to the city," she corrected. "Besides, it's not _mine_. This is Oliver's family's stuff. I mean, sure, Jonathan and I are apart of that, but I'm not sitting around drinking Cristal all day and eating caviar, get real."

He shrugged. "I know, but I guess sometimes things change and I can forget for a while but on a day like this, it just screams that you're loaded."

"I married well thanks to spiked champagne. It doesn't mean that I'm different."

He sighed and nodded, even if that wasn't necessarily true. Chatting around Watchtower or her visits to Metropolis were one thing. Hell, those couple days a week he could do playground runs with her were the best. But Chloe was kidding herself if she really believed she hadn't changed. She'd still be direct and, soon when Jonathan could finally get into daycare, she'd be back at _The Register_ , but right now she definitely was more society wife than she realized.

It was just not who she used to be, but, on the other hand, he was half driving himself crazy patrolling seven nights a week and was a whiney dork in the Planet's basement in oversized glasses and a trenchcoat he hated. Maybe they weren't who they were period. At least they were evolving, weren't the same crazy mess they'd been back when he'd worn black and she'd never left The Watchtower.

But he still couldn't shake the nagging fear that they weren't who they were supposed to be yet, either.

"Clark?"

"Nothing, sorry, I was just impressed was all."

"Well, it goes both ways," she said, quietly standing up and starting with him toward the back lawn. Jonathan was probably already there and all keyed up for the fireworks. He'd been babbling about it for weeks, after all. "I see you sometimes, and I know I saw it first because of the Fate helmet, but I'll see you at meetings in Watchtower, see _Superman_ , and I still can't quite believe it. I mean, I wouldn't have exactly bet that kid in the loft or guy in high school with Lana crushes would become that guy."

He frowned and let her thread her arm through his as they made their way through the manor. "How about this. I'll try not to be overwhelmed by you as the most envied woman in Star City and you can ignore the cape."

She smirked at him and some of their equilibrium was back. "I often do, Clark, you're not _that_ impressive."

"Not what Cat Grant says now," he chirped, grinning as his favorite person (sorry Chloe) rushed into his arms.

"Uncle Clark!"

"Hey buddy," he said, spinning his godson around in his arms. Sharp green eyes looked up into his face and the mischevious glint in Jonathan's eyes was directly from his mother. "Are you excited?"

"Yup!"

"Great, so does your dad have a place set up for us to watch?"

"Yeah, but he's meeting."

Chloe sighed and ruffled her son's bangs. "Well maybe it evens out. Lois had a deadline she couldn't get out of and your dad's still doing things to make his board of directors happy."

"What's that, mommy?"

"They're the people who make your dad work too much," Chloe said, her chin jutting out defiantly.

Clark sighed and patted her shoulder while keeping his other arm wrapped around Jonathan. It was more than easy to balance someone that small. Oliver had spent a long time rebuilding his company, and, even now, his board wasn't pleased with his night time activities. Clark understood if Ollie spent far more time than he'd bargained for trying to please people when he wasn't being the Green Arrow.

Also, a jealous, awful part of himself was glad he wasn't competing with Oliver tonight for Jonathan's attention.

Maybe that was wrong, but Clark really enjoyed the one-on-one with his godson. When he could get away to Star City...those were the best times of his life, those silly things like the playground or ice cream or even stupid kids' movies. He didn't get enough rest and Chloe and her son were this perfect oasis.

He wasn't sure what that said about him and Lois, but he wasn't sure that was a completely good thing either.

"Well," he said, grinning back at Jonathan. "We'll get a seat for ourselves."

Chloe nodded as they made it out to the main lawn. There was a patio set aside where friends and close associates of the Queen family had the premium spots. The people from the city who wanted to enjoy the show were further downt the lawn on blankets and grass. Chloe smiled at one of her staff who escorted them to a table and chairs already set up with snacks.

Clark had to admit that, like hanging out with Lex long ago, it didn't completely suck having rich friends. The homemade barbeque chips were a nice touch, definitely.

"So," he started, bouncing Jonathan up and down on his knee. "How is getting back to journalism going?"

"I've had a few op-eds in _The Register_ , but I'm preparing my resume for full time again. Jonathan sort of took up some time, you know?"

He grinned and kissed the top of the boy in question's head. "So you're saying a Sullivan was a frenetic mess that was hard to keep up with? That's so unusual?"

"Stop being a smart ass, Alf, and just watch the show."

The fireworks started and Clark had to smile at them. When he'd been very little, they'd terrified him and he understood why now, that as a child he'd have no hope of really understanding there was a difference between the sky burning in a war and the gorgeous explosion of lights that came from the fireworks. As he'd gotten older and, frankly, forgotten even the faintest memories of Krypton, he'd grown to love the display like any other American kid. Sometimes, the noise bothered him if he didn't work to keep his hearing in check, but he still loved seeing them. Looking across at the awe in Chloe's face, he knew his best friend did too.

After the first volley, however, Jonathan was getting agitated.

Frowning down at her son, Chloe patted his shoulder. "Sweetie, are you okay?"

"Hurts," he said, rubbing at his ears. "They loud."

Clark sighed, "Chlo, there's probably some people here you should schmooze for Queen Industries' sake. Would you like me to take him in? See if it calms him down? Kids are sort of overwhelmed by this stuff too."

Chloe chuckled and nodded. "The mayor is waving at me and I'll be there really soon, I promise. However, Jonathan, do you want to go inside?" 

Another loud explosion of red and blue arced overhead and the little guy screamed and shoved his hands over his years. Clark sighed and stood up. "I have it, Chlo, we'll be in his room."

Clark loved Jonathan's room. It was also probably another one of his selfish, petty quirks. Still, the motif agreed with him. Not only was it all primary colors but it was festooned with both Warrior Angel as well as Superman merchandise. There was one orange bow off in the corner, but Jonathan was obsessed with anything space and anything Superman. It was flattering, since even Clark figured his godson should love if not the Green Arrow, then at least Robin Hood.

It was just a welcoming place as he set his crying godson down on his bed. Reaching over and ruffling back his curly blond bangs, Clark frowned back at him. "Are you okay, buddy?"

He sniffled and nodded. "Hurts."

"I know that they're loud. Do you want to know a secret?"

Jonathan nodded again, his eyes wide and glittering. Of course, when had his mother or cousin for that matter never wanted a secret either? The Sullivan-Lane genes were strong in this one. "Yeah."

Clark leaned in and whispered as if they were sharing a conspiracy together. "The fireworks hurt my ears too."

"You hear good?"

"Well," he said. "But yeah. I always have because I'm just a little different."

"Am I different?"

"Not like me," he said, forcing himself to keep smiling. Except for Kara, who was sometimes prone to spending her time in Kandor or bumming around with the Legion in the year three thousand, and his clone Conner, no one was like him even a little bit. That hurt, but he still had good friends and family and a mission.

For all these things, he was grateful.

"Okay, I…you stay until I'm sleepy."

Clark grinned and laid back in the bed, letting Jonathan curl up against him. "Always, buddy, always."

 **III.**

"Empty your pockets," he said, glaring hard at Chloe.

She narrowed her eyes back at him. "What's that tone supposed to mean, mister?"

"It means that you've been trying a lot of stunts to get me to get used to Lex."

"I wouldn't call it 'get used to.' Clark, Lex is a huge part of this family now. He's Conner's father, and Conner adores him and thinks of him that way. He's Jonathan's uncle and they're very close."

"Like I enjoy the fact that Lex is getting my son to read up about Greek generals. Now they're onto the _Aeneid_."

"That's actually Roman."

"War is war. He doesn't need ideas about strategy in his head. He's seven!"

"Well, Lex is classically educated, and it's not like he's making him memorize _The Art of War_."

Clark threw up his hands and started to pace. "No, I'm sure he's saving that for middle school. Chloe, I don't know what weird stuff you two are cooking up. I mean, if you've had some weird pregnancy hormone holdover that makes you want to swing, then I'm not even sure what that means."

She shook her head. "That's not what it is. Lily was born over three months ago, and, even if she weren't, blaming pregnancy brain is awful and sexist. Lex is sorry for what the original version did. He cares about all of us, and he's helping to protect us, especially Conner."

"And he hurt your mom, put a tracking chip in your shoulder. Hell, he tore down the Fortress."

Chloe sighed and took a sip of water from where her glass lay on the kitchen island. "Lex didn't do that anymore than Conner, as he is, shot Martha. We've been through this, okay?"

"Maybe, but you can't get me to what? Want to join some kinky orgy? Help me out here, Chlo."

She sipped again before setting the glass down. "Christmas…Martha and I planned it out wrong, but you can't lie to any of us. The red Kryptonite has never made you a different person. It strips your inhibitions, sometimes makes you an asshole, but the attraction to Lex never went away. It never died out worth a damn. I'm okay with that."

Clark felt his eyes flash and forced his anger away. "Swinging like I said."

"No, there's something between the three of us. There always was, and it's powerful enough to take down someone like Lionel Luthor. I think that matters for a lot. I think for Conner's sake, you owe him a lot more than barely tolerating Lex at family gatherings. For yourself, maybe you'd like to actually stop lying about who you are."

"I'm not…I don't even know what."

"Bisexual? A little easy when you're high? We know you're easy with me," she said, smirking a little and gesturing towards Lily's bassinet in the kitchen. "There's no one who's mad about this. Your dad, yeah, he wouldn't have understood this but he'd want you to be happy and for your family to be happy."

"I'm happy."

She frowned and stepped around the island to cup his cheek. "I don't think you are. I mean, we're happy, but I have this feeling there could be so much more to it than that. I have no red rocks and there's no magical alcohol. I know you're on your own to be okay with your feelings, but can you try? Lex is having us over to the mansion for fireworks and could you just be nice, for me?"

He sighed and kissed her lips chastely. "I always try."

Clark was civil. He and Lex hadn't even fought since Christmas. Of course, he'd only seen the other man at Mother's Day, when he'd come over to congratulate Chloe over Lily (and, yes, he thought Chloe was nuts for insisting on that name). Still, as good as he remembered it feeling that night to snuggle between Lex and Chloe, as much as _Kal_ wanted to fuck Lex rotten, he wasn't going to do that. It was wrong, wasn't what his dad would have wanted. Besides, no matter what red K did to him, he wasn't like that.

Even if sometimes in the shower, he'd think of Lex or when he dreamed he'd wake up with burning eyes and it wasn't always Chloe's soft skin he'd been dreaming of, that didn't mean he was bisexual or gay or wanted Lex.

Really he didn't.

"Uncle Lex!" Jonathan said, throwing himself into his uncle's arms.

Clark found it oddly ironic that once Jonathan had that reaction for him. Oh, he still loved him, but it was just that once he'd only been the uncle and now he was the father. How could any of them have known? There were little things, yes, that he should have caught. Jonathan's hearing had always been sensitive but the specialists Chloe had taken him to insisted it was a sensory integration problem. Yes, his godson (at the time) had been a bit stronger than an average child, but until his hair turned so dark and his powers manifested, Clark really would have had no reason to know that Kryptonian-mutant pregnancies, at least those affected by magic, could last a damn long time. Lily had been different, only the average amount of time for a human, and Clark wondered not for the first time what the Hell Zatanna had drugged them with.

He wasn't sure he wanted to know.

However, there was no way that would happen again. At most, Lex would only be an uncle to Jonathan. He wasn't getting upgraded to father figure because Clark wasn't…he refused to lose control like that.

Damn it.

Lex grinned and hugged Jonathan tightly. "Conner's in back setting up the display stuff. You can't help him, but you can watch from a safe distance."

"Can I help more when I'm invulnerable too like Conner and Dad?"

"One day, we'll see," he said, chuckling as Jonathan blurred away to the backyard. Next the billionaire turned to Chloe and offered her a wide smile. "I say motherhood suits you, Sullivan. I mean, I miss the waddling, but Lily's beautiful."

Chloe grinned and offered the small pink bundle to him. "Would you like to hold her again?"

"I think I got a fill at coffee last week."

Clark's jaw clenched. Lex and he only hung out when there were inescapable "family" events that Clark couldn't beg out of. Chloe was another story. She hung out with Lex a couple times of week and their weekly coffee date at the Starbucks built where The Talon had once stood was well established. It made him distinctly want to punch things.

"Fine, but offer always stands."

He nodded and kissed the top of Lily's head and then Chloe's cheek. "I know that. I…Clark, would you like to talk?"

"I wouldn't," he said, his hands clenched into fists at his side.

Chloe shook her head and rounded on him. "You're going to talk since it's going to take Conner a few more minutes, I'm sure, to get his inner pyro on. Be nice or there will _never_ be a chance that Lily has a younger sibling ever."

"Ever?"

"I can withhold for centuries, Clark. I'd think about that," she said, as she strode off to join the children.

Clark sighed and sat down at the sofa in Lex's study. "Well, that's a new tactic."

"Probably the risk of having a wife as immortal as you are, Clark. It must give new meaning to the old saying of never letting the sun set on a fight."

"She's never threatened that before," he huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Did you suggest that one?"

"No, I don't coach Sullivan that often," he said, sighing and picking up his Scotch.

Clark frowned. Lex was a drinker. He hadn't really been originally in Smallville but after he'd lost the election, it had become a ubiquitous sight. He'd thought that with his resurrection, so to speak, this Lex had dropped that habit. It worried Clark that he hadn't. But he said nothing on it. It wasn't his business after all. It was his wife and mother who kept trying to force the bonding and what Lex did or didn't drink wasn't part of the deal.

"I'm only here because-"

"You like sex and fear Chloe's wrath. Yes, I've already gotten that impression," the other man said as he sat on the opposite sofa. "I must say, I like this better than what I remember, you rushing in to accuse me of the latest evil deed."

"You're reformed. It makes it harder to accuse."

"But you could."

"I guess I could," Clark said, sighing. "I'm very tired, Lex. Chloe and Mom…Hell, even Conner has the same idea in his head. They're all riding me on this."

"I told them to drop it. You're as stubborn as they come. It doesn't matter what you actually feel. I understand even if Martha and Chloe won't yet or can't that you won't act on them."

"I'm straight. I…Superman stuff aside…that all alien thing."

"What a difference a decade makes," Lex added with a droll tone. "Somehow it's odd after wanting the secret so badly both before and after Darkseid's effect on me to hear you dismiss 'the alien thing' so cavalierly."

"You know everything. Conner's been so forward with it. There's no closet for me to hide in."

Lex snorted and drank more Scotch. "Are you sure you don't want to rephrase that?"

"I, damn it. Yes, I'm attracted to you. Yes, when I was a kid I really had days where I wished more than pool could have happened between us."

"I see. Look, like I said, Clark, you don't have to…Chloe will figure out her idea is half-baked. I know you'll never love me. You might fight your attraction to me for the next thousand years, but I know I'll never be a part of your family the way Sullivan is."

"I'm not that weird," he said, and his voice was so hollow in his ears, so small and weak.

Lex frowned and set his glass down. "That's it then, isn't it? That you can fly or parade around in spandex and literally lift planets, but for you it's too weird to be all that you are."

"My father," Clark started and stopped.

He didn't know what else to say. His dad had been dead for over ten years now, but the thought of his values, of what he'd grown up on from Grandpa Hiram, and, in turn, passed on to Clark choked him. Sure, he was an alien. Maybe where he was from there was more a range of acceptable pairings. He'd never taken training and Kara was often gone. If there were other types of marriages or polyamorous arrangements, he didn't know about them. But he was far more Kansas than he was Krypton.

Clark knew that now.

He'd tried hard to embrace only his Kryptonian side, to only care about that part of himself, and it had backfired and left him exhausted and at the end of his rope. Chloe and Jonathan coming to live with him had really saved him from that. Still, his father would never have wanted this, least of all with a Luthor.

With Lex.

He couldn't disappoint him. It was stupid and confusing and frustrating, but Clark couldn't help but shake the feeling that if he and Lex ever did anything, it would be both too bizarre and make his father mad. After all, wasn't his dad watching him? He'd come to him when Darkseid had first started rising, helped him fix that fence. He'd been there to hand him his suit. That wasn't a delusion, was it?

Even Chloe and his mom didn't know what he'd seen the day he'd gotten his uniform back from Jor-El.

He was scared he'd cracked, but, even more scared that he'd seen his father but couldn't just reach out to him again. If Jonathan was a ghost or an angel or who knew what…then he'd never forgive Clark for giving in to such stupid, childish feelings.

The red K had stirred up things long gone, things he'd wanted to experience as a head strong adolescent. He couldn't afford that now. He was a hero and a father, and he just couldn't.

Lex nodded and walked over to Clark's side of the room. He surprised him by kneeling before Clark and taking his chin in his hands. "No, Clark, as behind all of this as Martha is, I don't doubt Jonathan would be furious at you and me both, and I doubt _all_ of that anger would be because of my surname." Sighing, he gave Clark a kiss on the cheek and it left Clark's eyes red and burning. "I know how much it means to have your father love you. I never had that, but, even now, I know what holds our fathers have on us. Clark, I understand."

"I didn't…my dad was a good man."

Lex smiled ruefully and stood up, edging back to his desk. "Perhaps we should disagree on that. However, I understand now even more than I did before. If being rude to me…if denying what's actually here helps you feel like you haven't offended your father's memory, then I know I can't hope to compete with that."

A loud boom echoed through the hall and out of the stained glass windows of the rebuilt mansion, Clark spied the first bursts of gold and green fireworks sparkling out of the window. Clark sighed and watched the sparks, thinking of his first Fourth and how safe he'd felt curled in his father's arms on the bed. He just wanted to make him proud.

Some orgy arrangement with Lex would never do that.

"We should go see the kids now. Lex, I'm glad Conner has you, alright? I think you're good for him. Better in a lot of ways than I am. I was always too busy."

Lex smiled at that, and it made a part of Clark burn with frustration.

 _Want, can't have_.

"Thank you, Clark, now let's not miss the party."

 **IV.**

"Your mom says that you're going over to Kyle's for the Fourth," Clark said, frowning back at his son.

Jonathan nodded, dark curls falling into his eyes. The kid needed a haircut but wasn't fond of getting them. Clark wanted to point out he had it lucky. By the time he was twelve (Jonathan's age) his hair was barely cuttable and every six months it took his mother painstaking hours to get through it. Since high school, he'd relied on creative use of heat vision and mirrors to fix his problem. Now, at least, they had metal from the Lantern Corp that had been fashioned into scissors. It was a Hell of a lot easier.

Besides, Lex had an odd fixation with cutting his hair. Clark figured it was a mix of envy and just being so curious as Lex hadn't had any of his own in decades.

Still, it was frustrating when his son hid behind his hair.

"Yeah, Dad. I know that you're so busy with Uncle Lex and everything here at the mansion's going to be low key. Mom's taking Lily into town to see the fireworks and I just wanted something more normal."

Clark frowned. "Huh?"

Jonathan blushed brightly and bit his lower lip. God, he was so Chloe some days. "I mean something that wouldn't put more pressure on you guys. I mean, Uncle Lex is in a delicate condition and you don't need me underfoot. Maybe if Conner were in town too, but it's just easier this way," he finished.

Clark forced himself to smile. It hurt. Jonathan was beginning to pull away from him and, in the last six months, Lex as well. Maybe this was just fate's way of paying him back. His son was obsessed with everything normal, and it was probably why he'd always been so amicable with his uncle. After all, even if Lex healed well because of his own mutation, he didn't have an active ability. He didn't patrol in spandex like Clark or like Chloe now did with her own healing and resurrecting abilities. Jonathan had even stopped using his strength to do his chores lately. He still sped, sometimes, but his son was definitely shying away from his gifts. Since Lex had become pregnant, he'd been shying away from his uncle as well.

Clark tried not to be hurt by it. He'd gone through many phases in his life where he'd been desperate to be anything other than he was, and his son would have to work through that too. Instead, he just pushed their conversation forward.

"Are you going to meet Kyle downtown on Main Street?"

"Yeah, but I was wondering if Mom could give me a ride when she and Lily go."

Clark nodded, even as guilt bit into him. "I'm about to relieve her from Uncle Lex and Mori duty anyway. She'll be right down. Uh, remind her to make sure she has Lily's ear plugs. Fireworks are loud!"

Jonathan smiled genuinely for the first time in their conversation. "I won't forget. That's what big brothers are for, aren't they?"

"I think so," Clark said, relaxing a bit and relieved that even if Jonathan was going through a "why aren't things more normal" phase that at least he was still a doting big brother.

Clark had to smile at the sight before him. As he walked into the bedroom (complete with special ordered bed of a ridiculous size) that he shared with Chloe and Lex, he couldn't stop grinning at both his lovers. Chloe was curled up next to Lex, reading out loud from the business section of The Planet. Their daughter, Lily, was sitting in the chaise lounge fiddling with something on her phone, her blonde curls bouncing the more animatedly she got into her game. Lex was half-nodding off and the comforter had fallen down exposing the swell of his stomach, which was quite pronounced at about six months in. Emil figured this would, hopefully, be no longer a process than Chloe had with Lily. Everyone was of the opinion the ridiculously long pregnancy she'd had with Jonathan had more to do with Zatanna's champagne messing everything up than with what meta-Kryptonians were actually like.

Still, it was a beautiful tableau and it was more than he'd had a right to hope for the long, haunting months after he'd first seen his ship. More than he'd ever have imagined after Lex and he found themselves on the other side of the war over 33.1 or when he and Chloe could barely look at each other his first year as just the Blur. Hell, it was the completion he'd missed even with Lois at his side those first years as Superman and running himself ragged. Most days, he still couldn't believe how much love and support he was surrounded by, as unconventional as he was.

Part of him wished he'd learned to be less stubborn, that he'd bent more faster and maybe spared all of them the pain. However, maybe things had to happen as they did, despite the trauma, or nothing would have come of it at all. They had at least nine hundred more years plus between them. Being circuitous was something all of them were fortunate to be able to afford.

"And so it looks like Queen Industries might be having a huge stock drop," Chloe said, her tone clipped.

"If Oliver learned to pay more attention to his company and get less swept up with his love life," Lex mused. "Anyway, thanks for babysitting me."

Chloe snickered and kissed him. "It's nothing you wouldn't do for me. Besides, you always said I looked so 'radiant' pregnant when I just felt like a weeble. I sort of dig the turnabout."

"That's a bit of a low blow, Sullivan," he said, still smirking. "You can be the brood mare next time. I'm not letting Clark near me."

Clark chuckled. "You will."

Lex struggled to pull himself up as far as he could against the head board, which considering his current predicament wasn't very far at all. "No. I think I've learned the meaning of the expression 'be careful what you wish for.'"

"You wanted me, you got me," Clark riposted, walking first over to his daughter. "Lily?"

"I'm on level six shhh."

"Lillian Jane, that's rude," Chloe scolded.

"Fine," Lily said looking up at him. "Hi daddy. I'm on level six and I'm about to stop this alien invasion so I need to concentrate."

Clark sighed and kissed the top of her head, some habits died hard. "You should get ready to go. You and your mom are going to town. Heck, even Jonathan wants a ride."

"He can run. I've got to save the planet now!"

He shook his head and made his way over to the bed. "Do we really think that game's culturally sensitive?"

"Well," Chloe mused, grinning. "We've all stopped a lot of invasions by now, especially you. I like to think of it as early training, and since when does Jonathan need a ride anywhere?"

"He's in a, uh, normal snit," Clark said, trying to ignore the knowing look between Chloe and Lex. The last thing he wanted was to get Jonathan lectured at, but, considering the situation, it was probably inescapable on the car ride into town anyway.

Lily giggled and set down her phone. "That's stupid. Running's the best. I can't wait till I can do it more than just here or at the farm."

"That's because you're smarter than Jonathan," Lex said.

"Ahem," Clark replied. "It's okay to do either. But, Chlo, you guys really will miss it if you don't hurry."

She grinned and gave both Lex and Mori a kiss. "I'll be back and then you owe me a round of Scrabble."

"Let it never be said that bed rest is never boring with you around."

"You mean you're dreading your imminent loss."

Lex narrowed his eyes. "Tell yourself that, Sullivan." Then to Lily he added. "Have a good time, sweetie."

"Okay, Uncle Lex," she chirped as she was soon led out the door by her mom.

Clark grinned and sat down in the place Chloe had vacated; he curled one arm around Lex's shoulders and let his other hand rest on the man's bump. Mori didn't kick a lot, but he was always hopeful he'd feel it if he had enough exposure.

"How are you today?"

"I'm a fat, bored, tired mess. How are you?"

"That good, huh?"

Lex narrowed his eyes so far that they were basically slits. "I'm glad you're no longer the last of your kind, even if you counted Kara in that. I'm thrilled we have a child, but if you ever do this to me again…"

"I no longer fear your threats."

Lex laughed and kissed Clark's cheek. "Oh for better days when my threats carried weight."

"They were worse, trust me," Clark said, still stroking his lover's abdomen. "It's not like am trying to repopulate Krypton or anything. You and Chloe are just really fertile is all."

"Maybe you should run around less with the meteor infected."

"Too late for that. You really look great. In fact," Clark said, nibbling a bit at Lex's neck. "With all the kids out tonight I had ideas."

Lex shook his head. "No, not until I'm done with this and we come up with condoms you can't break. I am _not_ doing this again or risk having two in here."

"Oh I don't think that would happen."

"Six months ago, you didn't think that I'd get pregnant either. Clearly your judgment is invalid."

Clark kissed Lex's lips chastely because he figured Lex would kill him otherwise. Three more months of hormones. Clark could live through that, surely he could.

Maybe.

"Fine, but Chloe and I think you look great."

"I think a family of four mostly Kryptonian children is more than enough," he said. "Besides, are you alright?"

"Why do you ask? I'm fine. I'm going to even make you sit on the balcony in a bit and enjoy the fireworks."

"I can agree to that. But I'm serious, I know that Jonathan's attitude isn't helpful."

Clark sighed and looked down at his hand over Lex's stomach. His gifts were difficult, Clark knew that. He'd always known that, and a large part of him wished that Jonathan was truly Oliver's, that he was human (or as human as one of Chloe's kids could be) and didn't have to deal with all the fear and frustration of being Kryptonian. It wasn't to be.

"I understand the need to be normal. He's getting used to his abilities, and no one says he has to use any of them ever. It's fine. He'll get over it."

Lex frowned. "It's not about you, you know. I think the entire planet basically worships Superman."

"Ugh, not like that. I'm not interested in a cult like other Kryptonians."

"The temple in Shanghai aside, Clark, it's alright. Your powers are amazing."

"I only marry groupies," he huffed.

Lex chuckled and kissed him. He surprised Clark then by reaching lower, running his hand over Clark's crotch through his jeans. "Fortunate for you then."

He arched an eyebrow at Lex. "Wait, I thought I wasn't supposed to come near you?"

"I can take some pressure off but, no, I'm really most sincerely never having a child again. For right now, let's just relax a bit."

"I…"

"Later, Clark, and we'll figure out what to do for Jonathan in the morning."

"There's nothing to be done."

"Let Sullivan and me talk it out," Lex finished, increasing the pressure.

Soon after, Clark was seeing a very different type of fireworks exploding over his vision.


End file.
